Shin Bet Nabs Terrorists Who Attacked Bus

Most of the members of the cell are from Beit Lakiya in the Binyamin region.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 11/22/2012, 10:42 PM

The bombed Tel Aviv bus

Reuters

The Shin Bet has arrested members of the terror cell that carried out the attack on a bus in Tel Aviv Wednesday.

According to initial reports, most of the suspects are from the village of Beit Lakiya in the Binyamin region, near Highway 443.

The cell's members, who are identified with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, admitted in their initial questioning in the Shin Bet that they had agreed upon a plan to carry out a terror attack, then prepared the explosive device, chose Tel Aviv as their target, and purchased a cellular phone in order to use it to detonate the device.

They also enlisted an Arab with Israeli citizenship, who is originally from Beit Lakiya but married an Israeli Arab. They used a car belonging to the man's employer in order to transport the device into Tel Aviv. The employer, an Arab from eastern Jerusalem, was unaware of their plan.

The Israeli citizen placed the explosive charge on the bus, and then informed his commander in Beit Lakiya, who dialed the phone and detonated the device.